Shrine No. 15

Shrine No.	Name / Transliteration	Date	Distance to the Speos of Haremhab [~ m]	Remarks
15	Hapuseneb ︾w-snb	Hatshepsut	373

From right to left the shrines No.: 12 (Minnakhte), 13 (Senneferi), 14 (Nehesj), 15 (Hapuseneb), 16 (Senenmut), and - destroyed - 17 (User-amun), all built during the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III (photo: E. Noppes). The entrances of all shrines were set into shallow recesses formed by cutting back the face of the rock.

The shrine of Hapuseneb (No. 15) is the 4th one from the right. The entrance of the shrine overhangs the water's edge. The photo below shows the entrance of shrine with its decoration. Hapuseneb was High Priest of Amun and Overseer of the construction at KV20.

The doorway and the decoration are markedly damaged, from 4 registers only the uppermost has survived intact. On both sides of the winged sun-disk the inscription reads: "[The] Behedetite, the great god."

The 2nd register reads from the central anx-sign:
"anx nsw-bjtj MAat-kA-Ra Dj anx Ddt ... Life to the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maat-ka-Ra, given life, stability, and ....."
The inscription was destroyed deliberately, most likely under Thutmosis III.

Most of the 3rd is destroyed. However, some signs and on the northern (right) side a part of a cartouche have survived at the ends - most likely, the register showed the name "Hatshepsut" followed by a phrase ending with "like Ra forever".

Two columns of text had been carved on the door-jambs, but not much is left. Both columns end with a title and the name of the "justified" Hapuseneb.

The text of the inner column on the northern (right) side reads ".. Hm-nTr tpj n Jmn ︾w-snb maA xrw... high priest of Amun, Hapuseneb, justified", with the name of Amun erased by the Akhenaton iconoclasts.

On both outer columns identical parts of the text have survived ".. jmj-ra Hmw-nTr ^maw MHw ︾w-snb maA xrw.... overseer of the priests of Upper and Lower Egypt, Hapuseneb, justified".

The entrance which was initially about 77 cm wide and 165 cm high had been crudely enlarged. The entrance leads into a shrine which consists of a single room which is about 73 cm wide, 368 cm deep and 190 cm high. All walls had been decorated with an excellent low relief, now badly damaged. Here and again, a few traces of colors have been preserved. Opposite to the entrance a niche had been carved into the west wall. The niche which contains a now defaced seated statue of Hapuseneb is about 70 cm wide, 135 cm high, and at maximum 66 cm deep. Hapusenebs feet rest on a low dais that projects about 10 cm into the room.

The flat ceiling is divided into two parts by a inscribed band running from east to west. The greater part of the inscription is lost, however, based on the preserved signs it can be concluded that it contained an usual formula of funerary offerings. The text starts with "@tp-Dj nsw ... A boon which the king gives [to Amun]", the name of the god has been erased by the Atenists.

On both sides of the central band the ceiling has been decorated with a checkered pattern of colored squares. Alternating these squares contained smaller central squared. The border along the walls was a painted band, however, the color cannot be determined anymore. Inside this band contained, at intervals, small green triangles.

On both sides of the doorway the owner of the shrine, Hapuseneb, is depicted facing the entrance and lifting both arms in a reverential gesture. Before Hapuseneb an offering-table is shown. To the northern (here the left) side the table bears a duck with flames arising behind it. On the opposite side the corresponding part of the scene is damaged but traces suggest another offering-table bearing a duck.

On the left side of the doorway a very few signs have survived, remnants of a band of text which ran - perhaps completely - along the inner part of the doorway.

The two areas with inscriptions above the figures of Hapuseneb contain an adoration of Amun[-Ra] (left) or Ra-Horakhti (right). Both inscriptions end with titles and the name of Hapuseneb.

The northern inner wall is divided into several scenes. On the left two registers are shown one above the other. In the upper register Hapuseneb, and, behind him, his mother Ah-hotep are shown seated in front of a table with offerings.

Right opposite two smaller figures are depicted one above the other. The upper one is a lady who holds a lotus flower in her hand. The text identifies her as the "Lady of the House, Amen-hotep", the wife of Hapuseneb.

The male below her might have been a son of Hapuseneb, however, that is not attested by the accompanying text. According to the text he was 2nd lector priest engaged in the mortuary cult of Thutmosis I, but the name is a puzzle and not attested by other records.

The lower register shows the family of Hapuseneb, from right to left: kneeling his sister Ahmose, justified, his son Djehutjmes-machet, his daughter Henut, his son User-pechtj, and far left his daughter Henut-neferet. Opposite to the members of his family comes the figure of a harpist followed by the figure of a woman who was probably shown clapping.

The right side of the northern shows 15 offering-bearers arranged in three registers. The offering-bearers bring cakes, bread, flowers, fruit, vegetables, meat, and livestock.

The south wall shows a set of scenes similar to those found on the north wall. At the west (right) end Hapuseneb und his father Hapu are shown seated before a table of offerings.

Below them, at the beginning of a long registers that runs along the whole wall, three other children of Hapusenen are depicted: first his son Aa-cheper-ka-ra-nefer, followed by two daughters, Sen-seneb and Ta-em-resefu.

Facing the children two figures are depicted, a man, stretching his right arm forward, and the left hand resting on his right shoulder (a dancer?), followed by a female harpist. Behind them two slaughtered oxen are shown. The remainder of the register shows six offering-bearers.

The greater part of the wall, opposite to Hapuseneb and his father, is occupied by a list of offerings arranged in 4 registers. A large area of the decoration has been destroyed.

The west wall is dominated by the niche with the much defaced seated statue of Hapuseneb. The niche is surrounded on three sides by inscriptions. The lintel is divided into two registers, the upper one contains the winged sun-disk with the accompanying inscription "[The] Behedeti " at either ends.

The 2nd register below is partly damaged, however, Caminos reconstructs the following text running on both sides and starting with the central anx-sign:
"anx nfr nTr MAat-kA-Ra Dj anx ... Life to the God God, Maat-ka-Ra, given life", whereby the feminine form was used on the left side.

The northern (right) inscription on the jamb reads:
"A boon which gives the king to Anubis, who is on his mountain, that he may give everything good and pure [to] the spirit of the overseer of prophets of [Upper] and Lower Egypt, Hapuseneb, justified".

The southern (left) inscription reads:
"A boon which gives the king to Osiris, the foremost of the westerners, that he may give invocation-offerings consisting of bread, beer, oxen, and fowl [to] the spirit of the hereditary prince and count, first prophet [of Amun], Hapuseneb, justified".

To the right and the left of the nice large panels divided into three registers each show two offering-bearers per register - which are already bringing the desired gifts.